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Very soon, Tackle The Storm Foundation is going to announce a huge undertaking involving possibly 100's of children, young adults, and their families. It will be our largest donation of rods and reels to date and for the last couple weeks I have been scrambling to stock our warehouse in Alabama with as much fishing stuff as we can get our hands on, but we need money to do that...so after dinner tonight Barb walked out the front door to take Riley for a walk, and was shocked to see a very long skinny box leaning up on the porch. The universe works in mysterious ways because inside the box, were one of a kind fishing rods...one of a kind made by Adam Murray and the kind folks at CastAway Graphite Rods. CastAway went out and created a very, VERY limited edition of Tackle The Storm Foundation rods, beautifully done, and then had their four Elite Pros,Marty Robinson, Bill Lowen, Russ Lane and Todd Faircloth autograph a rod each. As soon as I get back from the Elite Tournament in Wisconsin I will put these rods up for auction on Ebay,, and every dime raised will go to buy the things we need to help all the children we have pledged to help. These rods could not have found a better time to be sitting on our front porch...then they did today. CastAway Graphite Rods...you rock guys,

I went 3 for 3 this morning with a couple of other strikes that didn't hook up. Gotta love my new Cabo 40, talk about a power reel, mounted on an Okuma 8' mh inshore rod amplifies the pleasure even more. Took 2 of us to lift this puppy up.

Again thanks Darren for sharing your opinion on your new reel. Enjoy!

Thanks for all the prayers well wishes. Surgery went good, only have about a month recovery. So all in all went better than expected

I heard shimmy's pb was caught on livebait.

I think I'd need more than 1 beer to wash down the Megastrike

A Ham Sandwich , really slone ? I thought everybody knew that 95% of trophy bass surveyed prefer B o l o g n a. A-Jay

Did Bill Murphy mention the use of a ham sandwich covered in Megastrike as a viable option? You'd have the ability to fish with meat and have 100% control over what the ham sandwich is doing. Knowing the ham sandwich has no instinctual need to survive, you would not have to worry about it crawling underneath a rock in 20fow.

Yeh, i agree with much of what you said, but again, there is a reason fishchris switches to the crawdad and big night crawlers for a reason to target the big bass on his finesse setup and it's not just because it is fun! Plus comparing your experience is slightly tainted since you have become a pretty sound swimbait fisherman the last few years and i highly doubt you have approached big bass at the dams and nicer spots where you are catching your 7's with the same vigor, patience, and determination as you did in the past with live bait. While i understand live bait will not always outfish artificial, there is NO debate whether or not live bait catches world record/state record size bass. End rant, sorry A-Jay, guilty for derailing. Whatever you do, we'll all be watching regardless. Go get em.

Lots of guys look up to Pacman Jones, Maurice Clarrett and Lawrence Phillips . Granted, they are the guys in the cells below them but still.....

I don't have any personal issue with using live bait, especially in the context mentioned above. If that's how someone is able to catch the fish of a lifetime, awesome! Big fish are still big fish and I honestly don't believe live bait fishing for them is as easy as guys make it out to be. I recall fishchris stating that he would rather fish a Hudd instead of a crawler/dad, not for the personal satisfaction of it, but the fact that he has 100% control over what the artificial is doing. A Hudd doesn't see a big fish and scurry away. A crawfish has a mind (albeit a tiny one) of its own that is geared toward survival. If it makes a decision to scurry under a big rock in 20 FOW, you have no clue what it's doing down there in order to correct it. I'm an artificial guy, for sure, but I have fished bait in the past. I didnt start catching really big fish (in my area) until I picked up artificials.

1/2 oz stoem wild eyed shad...........it's an ocean snook, you can tell by the light color. Fish slipped out of my hands and this pic was snapped I was turning it over.

I agree. Don't do live bait!!! Stay strong! Live bait will obviously work anywhere, i just was hoping that this thread kept that artificial flavor where all credit of the big bass goes to the fisherman, not some crawfish with dance moves of his own. You imagine trying to determine who caught the bass? The crawfish would never let it go and would insist that you were merely just a means to get him in the water, you can't split the glory, would it be his PB or yours, it could get messy.

I figured I would give an update incase someone else wanted to do this in the future. You simply cannot shorten the shaft on a MG trolling motor the shaft it some weird thread on both ends. I took a shorter shaft off a 48" brute I had laying around. The things I learned. Do not take the lower unit apart. Simply cut wires in the head and unscrew the lower unit from the shaft then pull wires thru. When replacing the shaft itself loosen the set screw in the gear head and push the plastic head down the outer shaft. take a wrench and unscrew the gear. Put it back together the same way it came apart. One other tip is after you remove the cover. take a few pictures on your cell phone from different angles. it will make the rewiring simple!! Hope this helps someone!

I caught this little guy while my dad and I were fishing for walleye this week. I was casting a Gulp minnow on a jighead along a dropoff from a flat. I wasn't sure what he was when I first saw him. I've caught one true albino cat before but it was a channel and it was completely white instead of white and black splotched.

I use braid for frogging only. I feel there's a better line for every other technique. I couldn't imagine cranking with a line that doesnt stretch and gets cut by treble hooks. Furthermore, lack of slack line sensitivity negates the point of having a very sensitive rod. With that said, on cheap rods it does offer a way to feel whats on the bottom. Tight lines only though. And the longevity and lack of memory are positive features as well. Don't see the point of using just 1 line when there's such a wide variety of options.

A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, “This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.” The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, “Which do you want, son?” The boy takes the quarters and leaves. “What did I tell you?” said the barber. “That kid never learns!” Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store. “Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?” The boy licked his cone and replied, “Because the day I take the dollar, the game is over!”

Wind Weather Weeds Water temp Whiskey

Hold the dorsal fin up by pushing back one of the forward spines and you will notice the fin is connected where it slopes down. Largemouth dorsal fin is in two sections separated in the middle. Coloration varies greatly depending on the water chemistry, but the brownish tone, the jaw doesn't extend past the eye, definitely a smallmouth bass. Tom

That's makes about as much sense as whiping your ass before you take a dump. If a reel feels horrible, makes god awful sounds and has minor issues with parts, one would venture to guess that it's NOT going to perform well when you catch said fish.

I dont have the heavier version but i do have the super light version and i love them. Theyre not too hot so i can wear them in the summer and they keep me completely dry.

I pick dave Kingman to win it this year.

I still fish it...You can start and finish with a ribbon tail and not regret it. Mike

What he said.....read, read, read. Also, I personally feel that a 7" ribbon tail worm is one of the best lures to start on. That is what my 5 year old son started on and he loves it.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/hank-parker-bassresource.html

You got it backwards, If I pick up a reel and it grinding than yes, it is crap. Most of the good reels you pick up in a store and turn are smooth, and most of them cast a mile. No one seems to care how it feels with a fish on the end. I don't pick up many new reels that are grinding and noisy, but I only pick up quality reels.

Ajay, you've mentioned stitching a live crawdad. I believe artificial baits have come quite the long way from the time Murphy fished em. Especially creature style baits for that matter. Do you think stitching a rage lobster, or perhaps even something like a river2sea crawler would be advantageous? (tackle warehouse even suggest fishing crawler behind a split shot). And though we are getting outside of the realm with stitching here (which by the way, murphy did not always do as you have mentioned), what about slow dragging a craw bait on a standup head in these areas? It would seem, as it has been duly noted, that murphy was about Catching these fish. The destination wasn't the methods. The destination was catching big bass which he commonly found on specific structures.

Our Bassresource Library is extensive. Start at the top in "Fishing Articles". Every article has several links and the links have links! Read EVERYTHINNG and you will be way ahead of the game. The Forum is fun, but the nuts and bolts are in the Library. (This includes tons of videos, too.) There is some great stuff here, too: www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/60793-best-of-bassresourcecom/

LOL. Had that happen to me with a subwoofer. I never said anything because I didn't think anyone would believe me. Pickerel are dumb!

only time ive had this happen is when ive been snagged on an underwater stump or log and pulled my line really hard to break it and the hook bent and freed the lure. the only time i ever seen a fish bend a hook is when im using them gold thin wire abeerden hooks. im not saying big fish cant bend a treble hook, just that i havent had it happen personally myself...

The patriots are already pretty good in the red zone/ goal line situations so i doubt he will be there. My thinikng is they use him to play scout team QB for practice and that is about it. Nice kid but as an NFL QB he just isn't there. And him at fullback? He would get destroyed no matter how big he is. He has not been trained how to take and deliver hits, especially with NFL linebackers.

Fixed. Seriously, whats up with the facial hair.

If they play 7 games like that, Jagr might have to retire before the series is over.

Awesome deal!! You can always take the blade off and boom you gotta swim jig too!.

Glad to hear.

Thanks fellas just got home. The doctor said it went better than planned.

I am thinking of Glenn Springs Sunday as well. I will update if I do go! Jeff

You're right and I apologize for the somewhat negative presentation. That's not what this is about nor should it be placed in that light. Thank you for your post. I needed that. I did some supplemental reading in the chapter that covers the stitching technique. It appears as though I have been using this in areas that it is not at it's best. Mr. Murphy indicated that smooth bottoms are not places where stitching routinely excels. The bait does best in spots that have a bit of cover on the structure that allow for the bait to hang and drop and bump along. I'm feeling a little bit like a knucklehead for not picking up on this detail initially as at least half of the deep area's I'd plan to fish on this lake have a smoother bottom. A major oversight on my part and I'm glad I went back and looked. I'll blame it on the long winter here numbing what's left of my brain. The author goes on to say that his experience showed that big bass do use these spots quite often but he was unable to get bit stitching a worm. His solution, stitching a live crayfish. Something about the bait struggling along that open bottom turned these fish into biters. He passed on that it could be "devastating at times". I like the sound of that. Of course there is an entire chapter on the subject and like most of this reading, something I'm entering into right at the bottom floor. I don't believe I have access to a local commercial supply of crayfish so I'd have to learn to catch and keep them myself. Still haven't totally decided if this is something I want to get into. I have nothing against fishing live bait and a good majority of the bass I do catch here, cough up crayfish on the way to the net. Perhaps this is the technique that could unlock some of the mystery that this journey has been so full of thus far. Before I say that I am going to commit to it, some ground work and investigation will need to be conducted to see it it's even possible. Immediate thoughts that come to mind are, where, when and how to I catch, and keep them. If I can make this happen with in reason, I might actually entertain the idea. The information in the book is fairly explicit and appears to cover what one would need to know to get started. But like most everything we venture into, there always a bit more to it . . . . . . . . A-Jay

I caught my best bass so far this year on a NorthStar Original Swim Jig (bluegill)/ Rage Tail Shellcracker (green pumpkin, purple, gold). Last Saturday the big bass was caught on a Siebert Outdoors Swim Jig (black)/ Back hald of a purple GYCB Swimming Senko. More generally, soft plastics seem to be the best choice for most guys at Grove.

When you find the structure sometimes you wish you haven't, it loves taking lures. It can be rewarding but don't forget you'll lose a lot of gear.

Spro Frog especially the baby popper in black and yellow has beeb very successful lately.

I have the same set. For the first couple of months they worked great. Now if it rains more than about an hour I am soaked. I would not purchase again if I had to do it again. I should have listened to a friend who told me to spen the money up front on a good suit like BPS 100 mph suit or spend $100 for a couple of bad suits until I get frustrated and end up buying the good suit anyway.

buy more since they are working lol

it could be possible the fish short striked and barely got hooked in the lip and it eventually ripped out. i never change out factory crankbait hooks just to change them. they work fine for me

My opinion based on years of observation has led me to believe that it's rare for a bass to strike again after they made contact with the lure once. Hooks on crankbaits and all lures should be checked for sharpness. I have a KVD 1.5 and haven't had a problem with losing fish. But if you fish crankbaits, you'll lose fish, it goes with the territory. However, I wouldn't draw conclusions based on losing two fish on one outing. Everyone loses fish including the best pros in the world. Over the years I've had streaks where I'd lose the majority of fish I hooked over a given stretch of time and other streaks where I landed just about everything that struck and never was able to explain either phenomenon.

Just keep a light colored wacky rigged senko or nose hooked super fluke rigged and ready to cast. That usually seals the deal. They are slapping at the bait in an attempt to injure it. Throw some plastic that resembles an injured bait fish and you'll get them.

For enthusiasts, technique specific gear is fun to collect. However, three rigs cover all the basics: #1 6 1/2' or 7' MH baitcaster for jigs, some soft plastics and spinnerbaits #2 6 1/2' or 7' MM baitcaster for treble hook lures #3 7' MF spinning rod for lighter lures and a variety of techniques

WalMart sells some Mustad split ring pliers that are branded with the KVD logo for around $8. Well worth the investment. Using a razor blade? You sir, are crazy.

take it without any other rods, thats how i gained the confidence on frogs and pitchin, lol for a week i too frog rod and big flippin stick with me only

I am very fortunate to be able to fish places that provide an abundance of "Natural Music", day and night. Anything else, would just be noise. A-Jay